1The Underground Jewel Factory
Have you ever wondered how our planet creates beautiful, sparkling gems? Earth is like a giant, natural laboratory that uses a very special recipe to bake jewels deep underground. Instead of an oven, it uses incredible heat and the heavy weight of the crust, known as pressure. When minerals are squeezed and heated just right, they slowly grow into the breathtaking crystals we call gemstones. From the clear sparkle of a diamond to the deep red of a ruby, these treasures are some of the most amazing things found in nature!
2Diamonds: The Billion-Year Squeeze
Diamonds are perhaps the most famous of all Earth’s treasures, but they aren't easy to make. They form about 150 kilometers (93 miles) beneath our feet, where the temperature is over 1,000 degrees Celsius! At this depth, simple carbon atoms are pushed together so tightly that they lock into a super-strong structure. This process doesn't happen overnight; it can take between one billion and three billion years for a diamond to fully form. That means many of the diamonds in jewelry today are almost as old as the Earth itself!
3Why Gems Have Rainbow Colors
Gemstones come in every color of the rainbow because of "secret ingredients" trapped inside them. While a diamond is made of pure carbon, other gems like rubies and emeralds get their vibrant hues from tiny amounts of metals. For example, a ruby is actually a mineral called corundum, but when a little bit of the metal chromium gets stuck inside as it grows, the crystal turns a brilliant red. Emeralds get their famous green glow from chromium or vanadium. These colorful treasures stay hidden in the dark until volcanic eruptions or the moving of the Earth's plates bring them close enough to the surface for us to find.
